Glorious
by Yanrev
Summary: Sometimes tragedy brings about reflection, and sometimes reflection brings about change. Hinata reflects on her life and decides it's time to bring about change, and these changes in turn spark others to reflect on their own lives.
1. Prologue

So, this is my first ever Naruto fic, and it'll probably be around maybe ten chapters or so. The song Glorious by **Muse** inspired me to write this fic, and a few other Muse songs inspired me to write other Naruto fics. Guess Muse is just an awesome inspiration. ;) For those of you that are strict with the Narutoverse, I'll go ahead and say that I took some liberties with this story just as an fyi. I absolutely love reviews, so please feel free to leave them, and I'll state now that **I do not own Naurto or any of the characters from the series that are trademarked. **There, now please enjoy and drop a line -even if it's to say that you didn't like it!

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><p><em>'Touch my face,<em>  
><em> A hopeless embrace'<em>

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><p>He swore he could feel her fingers running through his hair, like phantom kisses to his scalp. Combing through the long tendrils and braiding them loosely as her off key humming overwhelmed all else. It was those rare moments when all else ceased to matter, when the world was nothing more than her grand stage to act upon without a ploy. His eyes shifted then, the colorful blurs intensifying and tracing outlines before him as he quietly wondered –was this the part of life that he was to remember? They always said that when Death was upon you, you had a flash of your entire life come before you, and while he was most certain that his life was coming to a close, he couldn't help but be slightly amused that that was the only thing he had to show for it. That one moment, however fond, was the only thing that zipped through his slowing brain cells.<p>

Faintly, he could hear something tickling his eardrums, and while his sight still wasn't the sharpest, he knew that she stood before him. She was watching him, her gaze piercing through his flesh and blood and right into the very soul that she had unknowingly completed. He grimaced, straining to lift his arms so that he could pull her to him, have her closer than he had ever allowed himself. Closer than even his dreams would allow, but his limbs refused him as if to say that this very moment was why all things should be said and done in the present instead of the future that none could guarantee. He slowly breathe, focusing his dwindling chakra so that he could use his remaining moments to do what he felt needed to be done.

It worked.

He focused upon her as he spoke quietly to Naruto, his gaze never relenting as he memorized her every feature. Drinking in her disheveled, battle worn appearance; the way her hair fell around her frame like dark ink, the way her matured physique swayed obliviously with her grief. He was utterly surprised, however, the way her tears fell in such open rivulets. His heart ached more than it did from the gaping hole within it, and soon enough his lips ceased to move as he watched her near him. Watching her cry for him was far too much, like a pain that even his current critical condition couldn't hold a point to, but he could not look away. Like a moth to a flame, if he was to leave this world then she would most certainly be the last thing he saw.

His head never touched the ground as the blonde laid him down, and although he was certain Naruto had gone on about a med nin, he was more concerned with the way she had pooled his hair around him like a halo and began to stroke his face. Was he breaking her? Was he going to be her undoing after she had bloomed so beautifully since their initial meeting? He wanted so desperately to touch her, to finally give in to that insatiable desire that had eaten away at him for years. He wanted to kiss her until she took his very breath away, to hold her and make her heart the only melody he'd hear, to tell her everything he hadn't the courage to tell her before.

How he loved her, and always had.

How that love had made him hate her in the beginning because of its ferocity and his inability to cope with it.

How she was the only person able to get under his skin and into his bones.

How her relentless need to suffer in silence fueled his loud passion to punish others.

How he wished to hold her hands so that they would never cover her face again.

How awful and unfit of a lifelong partner he thought Naruto would be for her.

How much potential she had coursing through her veins if only she'd be selfish for once in her life.

These things and more he would like to vocalize, but the taste of copper made him rethink attempting to speak, he would rather not soil her anymore if he could. His eyes softened as his Byakugan deactivated, and slowly he realized that it was now or never. Summoning his remaining strength, his fingers found their way around the slightly tattered remains of her sleeve, tugging as forcefully as he could. "Y-you shouldn't m-move," Her stutter had returned for the occasion, he thought with an almost sarcastic amusement, "cons-serve y-your ch-"

"Hinata-sama."

His voice was barely audible, but powerful nonetheless, and as pale eyes connected, his last dying thought was that she knew.

She knew.


	2. o1

She had been pleasantly surprised when she had been summoned to entertain a visitor, and even more so when she stepped into the room and caught sight of said visitor. She couldn't help but briefly wonder where her father and Hanabi had run off to, but quickly set it aside. Straightening her posture, she quietly padded onto the tatami, stopping directly in front of her visitor before gracefully lowering herself onto her knees. She stared at the dark locks attached to the bowed head before her, taking in the richness of their color momentarily, but then quickly shifting her gaze elsewhere when he sat back. Feeling his eyes immediately, and unabashedly, boring into her -through her.

"Uchiha-san."

Her voice was soft, showing her pure femininity, yet firm, reminding him that she too was a kunoichi. Obsidian orbs stared impassively at the heiress, trying to catch the pearls heavily laced with dark lashes fruitlessly. The silence that filled the room was more honest than any words that could be spoken, but he knew that he would need to speak so that he could be on his way. "I've come to pay my respects," His voice was like liquid steel, and he was faintly aware that Hinata hadn't wished for him to break the silence, "Hyūga Neji was a formidable and brilliant shinobi." He watched her lips move to inhale, and he then suddenly found the scenario incredibly tiring. Allowing his tongue to lightly suck against the roof of his mouth, he rolled his eyes and stared at the fine weaving of a loom that hung to his left. He would easily admit that they were strangers, and that he perhaps was the last person the young woman would want to see, but he couldn't shake his growing aggravation at the awkwardness of it all.

He cleared his throat, wincing at its guttural sound, and resisted the urge to run his fingers through his locks in frustration. "Uchiha-san," Almost so low it could've easily been considered inaudible, he turned to her, "thank you for coming." His eyes narrowed as if to test her sincerity, but when she finally turned to match his gaze, albeit swiftly, he could see no falsehood. He nodded curtly, and slowly stood up then, taking that at his cue to depart. He heard her stand also as he began to walk towards the entrance, feeling her low hum of chakra as he stepped into his sandals, but as he reached for the door, he paused. He was waiting, knowing that somehow there was just a bit more to be had before he could completely leave the Hyūga compound. "Uchiha-san.." There, there it was, right there.

"Uchiha-san," His ears perked when he heard her exhale slowly, as if afraid she wouldn't properly enunciate, "whatever it is you're going to do, please don't." He looked back at her, his face devoid of any expression, and he saw something that unnerved him greatly. He saw wisdom, pain, sorrow, and worst of all, understanding. He saw all of these things taunting him, and wanted to end her life then and there, just because she dared. She dared. Instead, however, she glanced away and offered a stuttered apology, and he turned back around and silently left, not bothering to glance back at all. He had come here to pay his condolences that much was true, Hyūga Neji was perhaps one of few that couldn't be held in justifiable contempt in his book, but he hadn't come to deal with some foolish woman. He had barely been able to come up with her name when the acting guards had subdued him at the gate, and yet she had had the audacity to supply him with her unwarranted warning?

He scoffed darkly and began to merge into the spreading darkness of dusk, reassuring himself that this sudden anger blazing through his veins was not due to some timid mouse who decided to forget her place in the world and be cheeky.


	3. o2

I would like to thank you guys for reviewing, and apologize for the huge update lag. I posted two chapters hopefully to make up for that! Please read and review and let me know what's on your mind!

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><p><em>Rose-tinted view<em>

_And satellites that compromise the truth_

_I wanted more - _**Muse**

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><p>She didn't make a sound as she hit the ground, her pale hand slowly cupping her swiftly bruising cheek, and that simply infuriated the brunette further. Brown eyes narrowed, their emotional volume heighted by the tears spilling helplessly from them as they looked on at the offending party. It had been a whole two weeks before they could properly bury Neji, and during the duration she had not seen one ounce of sorrow from the heiress other than the dried stains that had collected on her face when she was dragged from his corpse. How could she be so calm now, when all others were racked with grief and melancholy? How could she stand there, solid and immovable, as he was lowered into the ground for his final resting place? How could this one Hyūga be so passive and disconnected while the other clan members were discombobulated and torn?<p>

She felt her fists curl tightly, almost straining her veins and muscles as she did so, and fought back a large growl that was threatening to spill from her lungs. TenTen had been utterly broken by the news, unable to cope but knowing that she would have to mourn with everyone else least she lose herself in her hurt. And so she sought out perhaps the only other person whose pain could hope to parallel her own, only to find that that person was in no way grieving at all. Hinata had quietly comforted her, but never once joined in with her sobs and emotional thrashings, and it had slowly begun to fester and make her furious with the heiress. She had swallowed that fury, but with time it only grew in size until it overwhelmed her being and burst on the most exhausting day of her seventeen years of life. So when the service had finished and the mourners began to take their leave, she had promptly stormed over to Hinata and punched her with all her might.

Still, she wasn't sated, there was more to be done.

"You don't have the decency to even cry at his funeral after he sacrificed his life for you!"

Nothing, there was no response, not even from the few onlookers too shocked by the occurrence.

"So you've nothing to say for yourself? No half assed apology to offer up? No stuttered utterances?"

Still, nothing.

Losing her cool, TenTen pulled her arm back once more so that Hinata's other cheek could sport a matching hue, but was surprised to find her fist instead tightly held by Hinata's own. Brown intensely met white, but TenTen would not be pacified so easily. "Do you know how it feels to be so pathetically in love and hopelessly devoted to a person that is pathetically in love and hopelessly devoted to someone else? To know that no matter what you do or say, that you will never take the crowning reign of their heart, that you will always perhaps be second best at the most?" Startled slightly, Hinata gave a slow nod at the girl's inquiries, her mind swiftly flashing images of a certain blonde. TenTen gave a loud, watery laugh in response, lowering her head as she shook it, "Duh. Of course you do, how stupid of me to forget that."

She looked up as Hinata slowly began to lower her fist and attempt to massage it open, but TenTen snatch her fingers away, allowing them to drop to the ground as her knees involuntarily gave way beneath her into a graceless kneel. "I never told him how I felt because he already knew, and I never chased after him because I knew that there wasn't any use pretending he was something I could conquer. He could never completely see me because he could never completely see anything outside of you. You, Hinata, you were the only thing that ever mattered to him. He was consumed by your very being and you had no damn idea. He loved you more than he loved life, power, and even himself. Just you, only you, nothing but you. How the fuck can someone even think of trying to compete with that huh?"

She could see Hinata's mind moving behind her eyes, and she grabbed the girl's shoulders as if to keep her from fleeing. "I loved him, and he loved you, and you loved goddamn Naruto. And he died not for Konohagakure, not for the shinobi, and not even for honor, but for you. For you because you love Naruto so much that you'd risked your life for him, and he in turn gave his life for yours. He did that, he did that because his love for you was so outrageous…so demanding..that you were his life. His everything, a-and..even if you hadn't been there, he still would have protected Naruto because he knew. He knew that you'd be so devastated. But what about me? Huh? W-WHAT ABOUT M-ME NEJI?! HUH?! WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT ABOUT-" Grabbing TenTen completely, Hinata muffled the girls screams and held her tightly, keeping her grip solid as the brunette violently began to struggle within her hold.

She yelled, she screamed, she sobbed, and she bit.

She mourned in a way that she hadn't been able to in the past few weeks, and Hinata in turn simply closed her eyes and began to rock them both slowly, ignoring the small aches being inflicted by the distraught, heartbroken teenager in her arms. Hinata's mind was out of control, chaotic with all the information and emotions threatening to burst through the carefully crafted dam she had constructed. But this was what it all boiled down to, this was why she couldn't afford to allow her own grief to consume her, she had to attempt to mend all the broken hearts and tend to all the broken spirits. Being a kunoichi sometimes meant more than being a warrior, sometimes it meant simply being whatever was needed of you, and throughout Hinata's life she realized that that was something she could readily do.

So she continued to hold her friend, sometimes quietly whispering things to console her, sometimes seemingly nodding her head in response to whatever the brunette would say. Still, as time silently slipped by, and it appeared that they were the only living souls in the vicinity, she couldn't help but feel her eyes creeping every so often towards the treetops of the dense forest shrouding the graveyard. She could feel someone's eyes trying to penetrate her, as if they wanted to see into her very essence.

And hers alone.


	4. o3

Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate them! Also, while I can't promise I'll update as frequently as some of you'd like, I will do my best to be better than what I've been! For all those that read and don't review, please feel free to drop a line, I don't bite. Much. Let me know if you love it, hate it, are confused- it helps me improve! ;)

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><p>He seemed to have been caught in some strange, timeless physical paradox as his eyes stuck to the sight below him. He had unintentionally come across her, and somehow he had been transfixed and mesmerized by what he saw. It wasn't anything particular, nothing that hadn't graced his eyesight throughout the years, yet somehow, something had lured him. There was something completely off, something stirring in his bones that wasn't of his own doing, something that was so powerful that it overwhelmed his own strong will. Dark eyes narrowed as his arrogance surfaced above all else, infuriated by this sudden curiosity that plagued him. Wanting to rid himself of this haunting, he silently leapt from his perch on a branch and appeared directly before her, immediately catching a fist originally targeting the post behind him. Pearl eyes blinked once, twice, thrice, eventually landing on some invisible place beside his face before her tense stance was loosened severely. Her sudden withdrawal only seemed to add to his sour mood, making him apply pressure to the small fist within his palm.<p>

Sharply and unexpectedly, she snatched her arm back, unintentionally pulling him towards her until he caught himself and stood mere meters apart from her. His eyes became slits at the surge of strength she wasn't supposed to have, but then he simply chalked it up to him being so carelessly caught off guard when he noticed her lips trembling ever so slightly. "U-Uchiha-san," She tried not to wince when he leaned forward and completely dissolved her personal space, examining her in a way likened to a scientist to their obsessed experiment, "please…p-please let go." He made no attempt to acknowledge that he had heard her, but before she could ask again, she felt the words die in her throat when his cool, calloused hand caught her cheek and forced her face forward to meet him. She understood he wanted eye contact, but with the lowered flutter of her lashes, he understood she did not. His eyebrows twitched impatiently, the awkwardness between them once again flaring up and adding to his already mounting aggravation.

"Look at me."

"Why?"

He snorted in surprise at her swift tongued boldness, a display he hadn't ever had the chance to see in their rare encounters. "Why not?" His tone was sarcastic, that much she could easily tell, but still it was honest and she couldn't readily come up with an answer. Still. "Then please, de-deactivate your Sharingan." His mouth opened for an ugly rebuttal, but when he felt her feathery, hesitant touch trace his eye, he saw the faintest beams of chakra lingering after. Frowning until his lips disappeared into a thread thin line, he deactivated the Sharingan, pushing aside the loud questions of when, how, and why it had been activated to the crypt at the back of his mind. He was tiring of the scenario, the array of emotional turmoil he hadn't been equipped to deal with since his defection from Konoha easily screwing him over, and yet his inquisitive nature still bested him. He looked at her then, obsidian eyes weary, but was finally gifted with the shaded caution of pearls. Why did he seek out these particular eyes when there was an entire coven at the Hyūga compound, he couldn't figure, but there was just _something._ Something that was drawing him in, seducing him like the warm bosom to a loveless mongrel, eluding him like a playful, energetic puppy.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing.

"Why call to me?"

"I haven't."

"You dare lie to me?"

"I'm not."

"You-"

"Uchiha-san!" She had startled them both with her sudden aggressive interruption, but he easily feigned indifference and she simply glanced away to hide the light flush of embarrassment, "Please release me." She didn't apologize, he noted, but he slowly unraveled his fingers from her fist, scoffing at the fact that he had forgotten the contact in the first place. He then felt a familiar substance on his hand and saw the thick coating of blood that had painted it, snatching a glance at the heiress as if to accuse her of some awful prank. He instead saw her dainty fingers flex grisly, tattered knuckles, and wondered how she was able to endure the prolonged grip of his own large, uncaring grasp. Hinata heard him grunt and glanced at him, noting that while there was no apology bubbling at the tip of his tongue, dark eyes had shifted to the side as if ashamed, albeit only slightly so. She smiled politely as if knowing it would make him even more uncomfortable, and quietly offered an apology for soiling his hand, and he in turn spared her a sullen expression as if to apologize for his onslaught of vague, unnecessary inquiries. Of course, then a silence ensured, and the awkwardness once more claimed the two of them as its treasure.

Being around her was indescribable, that much he was certain of, and he hated it to such an extreme degree but tolerated it because he wanted an explanation for it all. How could something so irrelevant and insignificant such as Hyūga Hinata unleash such unfathomable chaos within him? He was not some charitable sap, some lecherous, hormonal teenager looking to prey upon the weak and gullible, some deranged sinner looking for sanctuary in the arms of an angel. He had his reasons, his mission, and fuel, and any and all that weren't a part of that were useless and miniscule and utterly unimportant. And so, when he felt the resolve to depart from the sick, unnecessary companionship of the heiress, he was unnerved to see that she was staring at him in a way that none other than his brother had done. The same way that he had been staring at her during Neji's burial and TenTen's crazed onslaught.

Through and thorough in a way that could only be wielded by a person of true omnipotence.

He shuttered unintentionally, his throat becoming painfully dry, and his spine tingling in ways that seemed unreasonable. Watching her with guarded eyes least she absorb and color herself with anymore of his essence, he disappeared from her all seeing sight, faintly catching the exhausting exhale of breath that she had apparently been holding.


	5. o4

Thank you for the reviews, you know that's fuel for my soul! ;D

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><p>She hadn't expected him to try to kiss her, and he hadn't expected her not to let him.<p>

He found that he couldn't meet her gaze, instead fascinated with the details about her that he had never, ever noticed.

Like how her hands were slender and small, like a child's yet still more precise and delicate like a lady's.

How her hair was like the starless dark sky he would often stare up at while others had long since laid down their heads to rest, not quite straight as it reached the end of its length.

How her lashes were unusually long and thick, heavily shielding the pure luminescence that were her eyes whenever she fluttered them in thought.

How her meek veil had thinned so significantly that now before him sat an image of an otherworldly beauty colored by quiet confidence.

How she moved with such elegance and grace yet was always alert in a calculating sort of calm that would render even the most advanced jōnin into a sense of relatively harmless peace.

How truly breathtaking she was in essence and thought, from the light, nearly undetectable tremble in her full lips to the careful conservation of her bosom and curves beneath the unnecessary layers.

All this and more he had noticed at this very moment, and he couldn't help but flush in immediate shame.

"H-Hina..," He gulped, the dryness in his throat forcing him to stutter as he finally looked into her eyes, "Hinata-chan. Hinata." He seemed to temporarily lose his voice as he lost himself in her eyes, as if he could feel all the admiration and love that she had held for him for all these years, as if her verbal declaration were nothing more than an empty invitation into this secret sanctuary that lay behind the milky portals. "Naruto-kun," Her voice was soft like silk as it forced him back into reality, and he was startled to find that he had unknowingly laced his large hands with hers. The sensation of their skin meeting was like nothing he had felt before, and while he had grudgingly tried to unlace their fingers, she firmly squeezed to stop him.

"Naruto-kun, please look at me."

He did so, trying his hardest to calm his heart, trying to understand why he was reacting in such a way in the first place. He had been around her in what seemed like an eternity to him, she had always been there to encourage him, but had always been nothing more than a constant backdrop. So why now? Why, after all these years of pinning devotedly after Haruno Sakura had he so desperately done this three sixty? Why, after never feeling a twinge of honest interest in just her wellbeing, was it now all he was concerned for? Why, after never knowing anything more than the path to being Hokage, did his mind try to stimulate plans on courting this supposedly foreign entity? "..Why?" His voice was so low that she had simply read it upon his lips.

"Because Neji-niisan wouldn't have had it any other way."

"No. That's not what..that's not what I'm asking Hinata! Why?"

Dark lashes fluttered in confusion as she tilted her head slightly, opening her mouth to inquire, only to be startled by the blonde as he snatched back his hands and violently banged them against the table. "NO! No! No." His blue eyes began to mist as he stared down at her, an open testament to the unreachable sorrow of losing Neji, the dark reminder of the familiar blood that would always possibly stain the golden cobblestones to becoming Hokage, the dawn of having only loved to ignore and escape the misery of never being loved, and the confusion of unraveling perhaps a truer love that could've been delved and captured oh so long ago if only he hadn't been so foolish. "No! I…I don't..," He hunched over, his tears spilling over and bombarding the table as he came undone before her eyes, "…T-tell me.. Tell m-me! TELL ME! Why? WHY? WHY?!" He gripped the table and tore it from the carpet, easily tossing it aside and collapsing to her feet as it collided gruesomely into the innocent refrigerator. His fingers clutched desperately at the worn fringes of the carpet as he sat before her, his body shaking savagely at the pain of everything reining him ruthlessly. Over the harsh thunder of his turmoil, the kyūbi vessel heard the heiress breathe in sharply before him.

"Because," She started, her fingers childishly playing with one another as she gazed down at the damaged teen before her, "you needed someone to love you unconditionally, relentlessly, and devotedly no matter what, and I was more than ready to take up the task." His sudden silence and stillness struck fear into her heart, and so she carefully called his name, reaching tentatively for him before he in turn launch himself clumsily towards her. He latched onto her waist, tossing his head carelessly into her lap and circling his arms around her in such a way that it pained her to breathe. Yet she endured as he once more began to sob, and she slowly began to run her fingers through his thick locks, looking down at him as if for the first time. He had been broken for so long, broken in a way he thought himself unfixable, and so he continued on that way, masquerading because he figured if there was nothing left to be broken he would in turn simply be indestructible.

But he was wrong.

And as he stayed nestled safely within Hinata's warmth, he knew that he was completely, and utterly wrong.


	6. o5

As always I really love and appreciate the reviews, they help keep me motivated and writing so please feel free to review away even if it's simply to point out something you may not like or are confused about! You'll be getting two chapters since I made you all wait for so long, so I hope you enjoy! Only a few chapters left to go I believe ;D

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><p>He had been vaguely aware that she was trying to avoid him, and had a nagging, sarcastic idea that she was a lot better than anyone would guess at being elusive. This time, however, she had allowed her kindness to get the best of her and had wandered right to him, unable to hide her gaping when she saw him slouched in the lake. Standing up so that she could see him in his near entirety, his body had tensed immediately, ready to spring for the moment she made an attempt to get away. Of course he was unable to comprehend the sudden slight touches whose contact spread from flesh to veins like a dose of misdirected chakra, and the annoying way he involuntarily stole glances at the result of both her carelessness and impatience. "Utterly ridiculous." He muttered darkly, watching the way her coat clung to her every curve, expressing her successful passage into womanhood. Hearing her grunt, indifferent obsidian met furious pearl, and before he could narrow his eyes at her blatant display of fury, he was recoiling from the sudden pain of the acidic poison being extracted from his every pore.<p>

He was then fighting both the shame of allowing her to see his mortality as he lurched forward and ground his teeth and the sudden, overwhelming shiver that ran up his spine when he found his head pressed against the damp swell of the bosom beneath her jacket. He scoffed, his voice guttural like a wounded, rabid animal as he cleared his throat, but she carried on, completely and utterly ignoring everything outside of his wound. He could feel the charred nerves and tendons being reanimated, severed muscles and fragmented bones reassembling, and ribbons of flesh stretching to bond with one another. Soon enough the sensation of it all made him chance a glance down at the dainty hands, and he was surprised to see that they were illuminated by the most vivid chakra he'd ever laid eyes upon. Sucking in deeply as she finished healing him, he stood up to his complete height and made a grab for her retreating hands. Roughly squeezing her wrists to have her cease any planned attempts at a struggle, he then pulled her fingers closer and guided them to trace over the grievous wound in his abdomen that she had just healed, keeping his eyes on her flawlessly.

He drank in her every expression, noting that while she had healed him, she was grimacing in horror, as if physically touching the wound allowed her to feel the gravity of it all. Once their hands had completely traced his side, he detangled them, allowing his own to fall easily to his side. "I'm aware that you've been with dobe," He caught the slight flinch and the dismissal of the colorful confidence she had just so eagerly displayed, "and yet interestingly enough he's yet to cross my path." He leaned in to her, the warmth radiating from her in loud waves as her heart beat wildly beneath flesh and cloth. "As a matter of fact, the ANBU I encountered were simply misfortunate. You've now knowingly cost Konoha twelve of its supposed finest, Hyūga." His eyes watched her for any sign of weakness, any crack in the porcelain that made up her skin, and was miffed to find nothing more than the flickering of her eyes.

"What do you have to say for yourself Hyuga?"

"Y-you should go and see Naruto-kun."

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, he was taken by surprise at her response, having suspected that she would float into hysterics of some sort. He waited for something more to be said, for her to crack after all and scream and cry and attempt to flee because it was such a situation in which a wench of her type would deem far too much for comprehension. Instead he was met with a lightly wavering yet inapprehensive stare and the steady sound of her voice.

"Sakura-san also, she thinks of you constantly even when she's diligently working at the hospital."

"No-"

"Ino-san too." She interrupted flawlessly, her hands suddenly grasping and massaging the callouses of his own, "Actually quite a few people miss you Uchiha-san and would be more than happy to see you return in good health."

"I said-"

"-Though I'm sure Godaime-san will be a bit upset-"

"-listen-"

"-but I'm certain that with time she'll be as forgiving as-"

"NO!"

His voice boomed over her, wiping all coherent thought from her mind and silencing the rambling her mouth had taken a liking to. He glared down at her, his irritation lighting his face and radiating off of him in massive waves, forcing her to relinquish her hold on him for fear of being burned. "I have not returned to Konoha for such foolish, childish things Hyūga, and do not insult me any further with your blatant attempts to make me believe that you're ignorant to that fact." She inhaled sharply and looked away from him, her teeth pulling slightly on her trembling lips. "Your silence has cost lives; your hands are now stained with the blood I've spilled today, and you've now also made certain that I will live to add more notches to my blade. I ask you again, Hyūga Hinata, what have you to say for yourself?" Smugly satisfied at the control he now felt, he crossed his arms before him, and watched the heiress dethroned from her saintly position.

"D-don't," She hushed herself, seemingly finding the courage to continue, "act s-s-s-o…don't insult me!"

ov

He blinked hard and she immediately turned and glared at him, sending an uneasy fire into the pit of his belly.

"I asked you not to insult me Uchiha-san. Due to your indecent state, it's safe to say that you were bathing when you were attacked, which means that you acted in self-defense and that therefore cannot be considered a crime of murder. Also, while I am not certain as to why you have returned to Konoha, I do know that I will not be disclosing any information regarding your whereabouts because it seems that you are extraordinarily dependent on me doing so. That leaves me to think that you either have an elaborate scheme planned for which I am to be a major pawn to, or that you honestly trust my character, which I heavily doubt considering we are virtual strangers."

She frowned at the end of her rapid fire as disappointment laced the paleness of her eyes, turning on her heel immediately and walking away from the stunned young man. Once reaching dry land, she turned and regarded him, "Change is constant Uchiha-san, and the only reliable things are events that have already transpired. Please either visit Naruto-kun or take your leave from Konoha."

And with that, she was gone.


	7. o6

She had become an impenetrable pillar of marble while they trained, so centralized that it threw all of those shrouding her off kilter, including himself. Sure it was a personal joy to see her so diligent, and honestly she was perhaps the only person that could rival the Uchiha's obsessive strive for betterment, but something was off to him –something he couldn't quite place a finger on. Something was different; her smiles were louder, her coloring more vibrant, her eyes more open. Something was changing for the better for his heiress, but that something apparently didn't at all include him, and it bothered him in a way only an immense love for a woman could. Certainly, he had heard about what had transpired at Naruto's weeks ago from that blabbermouth Ino, and while he wasn't too thrilled with hearing how the blonde's place was trashed and the perpetrator himself was balled up in a Hinata blanket, he knew he couldn't exactly go over and knock the holy snot out of his face.

Or rather, he knew that Hinata would be very upset with him if he were to do so, the guy was only the love of her entire existence after all.

He snorted and rolled his eyes at the thought, kicking off his shoes carelessly and ignoring the offended faces of the servants as he entered the Hyūga compound. He was upset at the turn of events, hands down, but he was even more upset that he had been left out of the loop –he had prided himself on being Hinata's very best friend since he couldn't manage lover. He was going to make her talk to him, even if it meant leaving his beloved Akamaru behind because the oh-so elite Hyūga believed pets would somehow sully their precious compound. So imagine his immediate surprise and swift anger when he snatched the heiress' door aside to give her a rehearsed piece of his mind and instead saw that goddamn Naruto trying to give her a piece of himself. There before him was the blonde kyūbi with his massive hands tangled within navy tendrils, hungry lips parted, and eyes half lidded in an attempt to make a move on the unsuspecting woman of the Inuzuka's dreams.

He thought he heard Hinata squeal faintly as his ears began to ring and his expression began to darken, her wide eyes going from her newly realized compromising position to the wild look on Kiba's face. In a hurry, she jumped up and glanced back at Naruto apologetically, snaking her fingers into the brown haired youth's own and pulling him from the room and down the hallway with a rush in her step. With pure fury blinding him, he wasn't aware that they were now completely alone until she had begun to rub his neck, a gesture reserved only for when he had become feral because of his awful temperament and needed to be sated. Upset, he shrugged away from her, pouting like a child and crossing his arms as he turned away. "Oi! What the fuck is up with you, huh?" Crass and unpolished as always, his voice easily betrayed his feelings. "I mean, you go and make me feel like shit and you're shittin' daises and shackin' with that mutt now? Eh, Hina-chan? Eh?"

"Kiba-kun-"

"No!" He was on her within the blink of an eye, his fists pounding violently against both sides of her head as he towered over her. Locked within his arms, she looked up and saw that his eyes were open and swarming with bright, vivid emotions. Hurt, passion, fury, rejection –and she had never wanted so desperately to will herself to look away from the one face she always loved to look into. "You were going to sacrifice yourself again for him, but Neji intervened. You would've died for that selfish piece of shit, you would've thrown your life away without thinkin' about anybody else. Would've left me to mourn, to suffer, to fuckin' wonder. Well what about us, Hinata? Huh? What about me and Shino and Kurenai-sensei and Akamaru, huh? What. About. Us!"

"Kiba-"

"I see you changin' in front of me, growin' and unravelin', and it's great. It's what I'd always wanted for you, but you're doin' it without me. Growin' apart from me, and unravelin' in the sun and leavin' me in the dark." He roughly pressed their foreheads together, his eyes lowering to gaze at the light trembling of her lips at the sudden change of his demeanor. "Don't leave me behind Hinata." His voice immediately softened to a tone she hadn't ever recalled hearing before, "I've always been right beside you, slowed down if I was ever in front of you, 'cause I promised not to leave you behind. But now, now.." He closed his eyes, expression contorted in an anguish Hinata was ashamed to know she had caused, "now you're so far ahead tryin' to catch you makes me stumble. Sooner or later all I'll have left is a faint trace of your scent, and even that'll eventually go too."

He flinched visibly when he felt the soft pads of her dainty fingers upon his face, but soon gave in and nuzzled into her palms, his breathing becoming labored as he rested his head into the crook of her neck. The air was so thick, so full of his burdens that she feared that it would soon burst and devour them both whole without a trace. How could such a lively, beautiful thing ever care for her with such an intensity that it would dim and decimate the wild fire that kept it burning throughout life? Unable to resist the contagiousness of his raw feelings and the rare vulnerability he displayed, the heiress silently allowed tears to spill from her eyes in rivulets, delicately splashing the unruly mess of chocolate that lay beneath their pathway. She felt his body began to twitch, and as he lifted his head he could feel her breath being painfully wretched from her lungs.

"…I love you, y'know."

And then, he kissed her with all that he was and wasn't worth, and she tried to ignore the overpowering taste of the legendary Inuzuka tears.


	8. o7

Thank you all for those that have been reviewing, regularly viewing, and favoring the story -it really means a lot to me! I will be posting another chapter a few days after this one, meaning that there will only be a few chapters until the story finishes it's course! Thank you guys for being patient and awesome. ;)

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><p>She sought solace not by the ample lakes and rivers on the outskirts of Konoha or the lushness of her mother's gardens, but in the abandoned tower swarmed by the dangerous greenery of the Forty-Fourth Training Ground. Unlike the remaining of what was once the Konoha Eleven, the heiress found herself embarking through the treacherous grounds of the infamously nicknamed Death Forest more often than she meekly padded through the grand halls of the Hyūga Compound. There was a predatory silence at all times, a seductive wildness that went hand in hand with a type of freedom she seldom knew but always longed for. Here she had to slink about and be nothing more than a barely there figment of imagination to all those that would easily do her harm, and a volatile opponent to those that were more prone to seeking mayhem and gore than territory and peace of mind. She lay sprawled on the floor of the arena, the chill of the cobblestone ebbing away the heat of her adrenaline and allowing her heart to slowly return to normal.<p>

"W-why," She exhaled slowly, allowing her eyes to flutter close, "are y-you following me S-sasuke?"

Her ears perked from the faintest disturbance in the stillness of the air, and soon enough she could feel the intensity of the Uchiha's stare bearing down upon her. He was the cause of her unusual slipup during her trek to the tower, his intense stare the reason why she was too distracted to notice that there was an extraordinary spike in chakra twenty feet away in the form of an adult poisonous leech nest. She knew more than anyone the dangers of being caught unaware here, knew that the creatures that lurked the forest adapted and evolved into more fatal versions of themselves with every other moon cycle. Yet despite her many journeys -her uncanny expertise in this land, she had allowed shame upon herself when she had focused herself completely on Sasuke's immediate appearance some six hundred meters away, but failed to notice impeding chaos a meager six meters in front of her. Luckily she was able to dismantle the situation and drift off before being detected by the entire nest, only having to incapacitate a few of the creatures before rerouting her path to the tower. Still.

"Uchiha-san-"

"What are you hiding Hyūga Hinata?"

All thoughts slipped from her mind as she registered just how close he sounded, just how dark this new shade was cast around her face. She knew that he was there, right there, oh so very close that if she opened her eyes black would become the only color scheme that she could register. But that was what she was suddenly afraid of. "Why are you here?" He would not let up, and she swore she could feel some sort of grim satisfaction take over his expression, that somehow he knew that she was at the level of discomfort in which he so adored. "What exactly is the pristine Hinata-hime doing in a place that reeks of death and despair? Hm? When all of those pathetic infidels you call friends are either lapping up Konoha's filth and swearing it gold or kissing you and becoming lost little mutts? Why is it that you, heiress to the grand mockery of supposed shinobi royalty, is rarely basking in the warmth of Konoha's suffocating bosom? Is life too demanding? Too perfect and bright? Too-"

"P-please, en-nough-"

"-You're just like the rest of them-"

"-e-enough-"

"-Parading about, inconsistent when it matters-"

"-I said enough Sasuke!"

She opened her eyes, hers smoldering and his coolly impassive, yet her anger could not be so easily swayed. "Do not speak," she firmly interrupted when she saw his thin lips move to retort, "unless you are willing to explain yourself to me. I do not wish to know why you defected from Konoha, and it is not my place to judge actions if I am unable to completely comprehend what may be behind them, but regardless of your reason -you have returned. First; you used your Sharingan to manipulate your way into my home to pay your respects to Neji-niisan, and then attended his burial like an apparition. Second; you've killed only in self-defense, meaning that you've otherwise made sure to go completely undetected else you would have obnoxiously obliterated any and all that you saw fit. Third; you've intruded my life, first like a scarce wind but then more boldly like a breath tickling the fine hairs of my nape. Now, I ask you again Uchiha-san, why are you following me? What do you want from me and why do you want it?"

He was taken aback from her boldness, unable to break the unwavering stare that she held so wearily, and ultimately unable to fight the queasiness that threatened to spill out of his lips. She was far more observant than he remembered, far stronger than he assumed, and just a bit more of something else he wasn't quite sure he could name. He narrowed his eyes at her, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth as he studied her studying him. "You are not an imposter, but you are not Hyūga Hinata." He had no real thoughts behind his statement, but once it left his lips if felt correct. He watched her dark brows furrow slightly, traced the small creases in her forehead, pondered about the swift flutter of her lashes. He had no true memories of the heiress, and the ones that he now tried to page through simply showed her as nothing more than a blend of the scenery. Nothing spectacular to behold, she was no more than a smudge in a painting, an oddly off shade piece to a puzzle that could hardly be called memorable. Yet here he swore that this specimen before him could not be the same uninteresting, bland young woman from the past. Certainly, he'd had remembered her with more detail otherwise.

"Twice you've called me Sasuke, but I don't understand just who you are."

She gave him a watery smile and he unconsciously leaned forward and allowed their foreheads to barely brush against one another. "Sasuke-san," She said breathlessly, "I'm tired, and for right now, that's the only thing I can be."

And with that, she quietly began to cry.


	9. o8

Father had been just as shocked as daughter with the sudden declaration of a duel -that much the younger Hyūga could attest to with a swift sweep of Hiashi's face, though that didn't quite take away the effect of it all. With a low snort in disbelief, Hanabi once more looked to her father as if he could somehow rebuff the quiet command that had been set forth by the current heiress, but once again she was confronted by the impossibility. Hyūga Hinata had just simply walked in, excusing her intrusion of their conversation, politely bowed, and then proceeded to say that she wished to fight Hanabi for the claim to the clan inheritance. She then even had the audacity to look both parties in their eyes, bow once more, and departed after giving the time and place as if nothing out of the ordinary had just transpired. It wasn't the fight that had them both unflatteringly flabbergasted, it was the uncanny boldness to which Hinata had presented it to them. And present she most certainly had.

Gaining back her apathetic cool, the youth clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth soundlessly, waiting for the current head of her clan to speak.

"Do as you must, not as you will."

And speak, he did.

Hyūga Hanabi was not conceited enough to think that she was the strongest there was because that would lead to fatal flaws in the future. She was not arrogant enough to believe that she would swiftly rise to the fame of Hyūga Neji, although she was walking swiftly in his fading footsteps. She was not empathetic enough to bow down for the mercy of others at her own expense, even if it possibly meant saving their lives for a meager bit of humiliation on her part. But she most certainly was intelligent, and her intelligence told her that there was no way that she could've miscalculated to such a shaming degree to be at the mercy of one Hyūga Hinata. Yet here she was. Bones seemingly crushed beyond repair, clothes torn and shredded into skilled ribbons, flesh marred by scars that would be ugly and almost everlasting, and blood that had no right to be so vibrant and ample against her skin's pale contrast.

She was in such pain that her body had gone into a numbing shock to keep its nerves from frying out and risk stopping her heart past necessitation time, but it was the act of having lost that was the worst. It was damning, laying there like an ugly marionette whose strings had all but victimized its' figure on the stage for all to see, having lost so soundlessly –so ruthlessly. And yet as she gazed up helplessly into the eyes of the now unmatched heiress of the Hyūga clan, she saw with horror that Hinata had been the victor all along. This whole time, she had been stronger, faster, smarter, and slyer than Hanabi. She had taken hits, jutsus, criticisms, disownments, and abuse all for naught. They had all been misplaced, and her quiet had been misdiagnosed as weakness and an inability to be anything save for useless. Her Byakugan perhaps was weaker than Hanabi's, but with such prowess, with such an indescribable ability to be gracefully ferocious and precisely deadly all while masquerading to be a miniscule step up from a cowering, inept fool –how was she able to house all of this without anyone ever knowing?

Stark white began to collect the strangest substance, and without her permission, said strange substance began to slowly slip down her pale cheeks. She could faintly smell the salt, and while she was still too far overwhelmed by the great deception Hinata had unveiled, she knew there was now one more reason for her to brood –the heiress had now also stolen her first tears as well as her first defeat. Her thin lips were parted but she found there was no verbal way for her to communicate, and as she watched her elder sister kneel before her, she greatly wished everything in her power to at least be able to shy away if not to violently lash out. Yet she could do nothing more than stare with unabashed hatred and sharp accusations of deception as her sister timidly brushed her small fingers against her cheek, her face fixed as if in deep concentration. Hinata sighed quietly and then nodded to herself, standing up and turning to the audience shrouding them in the well-lit arena. Hanabi did not notice that all the faces present mimicked her own troubled thoughts in their own respected way as her vision began to blur from both the unaccustomed tears and the conservation of chakra that was being wasted by her consciousness.

Hinata, feeling the slip of her sibling's consciousness, nodded politely to the Godaime as well as Haruno Sakura to summon them to tend to Hanabi's injuries. As the sensei and pupil took to the battered youth, neither one could help but glance at Hinata as she walked towards the center of the arena, one in utter awe and horror and the other one of pure curiosity and disciplined respect. All eyes fell upon the heiress as she finally stood at the center, hair pinned up messily as if to contrast her otherwise immaculate appearance. "I," Her voice came out softly, barely amplified by the angles the arena had to offer, "Hyūga Hinata, have defeated Hyūga Hanabi for the respectful inheritance to be the reigning head of the Hyūga legacy." There was a slight murmur among the crowd of her peers and her clan members, though her eyes only sought out the familiar physique of her father. "As reigning head of the Hyūga legacy, I, Hyūga Hinata, now wish to step down from this position in the near future and wish for Hyūga Hanabi to inherit the Hyūga legacy only if she, and only she, so chooses to do so. Those are my wishes, and that will be all. Thank you very much."

With this, she bowed deeply, and turned on her heel, walking away from the sudden uproar and commotion that she had caused.


	10. o9

Once again, thank you for your patience and your reviews, they always make me feel so special! It's boiling down to the end everyone, with only two chapters left to go! Are you guys ready?

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><p>They had been sitting in an easy silence since she had summoned him from his bedroom in the middle of the night and settled in one of the few undisclosed areas that she found solace in. She knew he was not a fan of water, and so resisted the urge to shroud herself in the comforting waters of the lake before them and instead sat close to him –closer than their entire four years together. Every so often her shoulder would brush against his, making his body tense up immediately and his attention crumble to a pile of dust. "You are defecting from Konohagakure aren't you? Why do I say that, you ask? Because you are no longer Hyūga Hinata of Konoha." She tensed up immediately, whipping her head to look at him and catching the quiet sigh that he dispelled. Her lips parted, but he spared her a glance that sealed them once more. "Subtle changes are my specialty; the miniscule details that are the common blind spots to others do not burden me." His attention returned to the scenery before him, expression as impassive as ever on the uncovered parts of his face.<p>

He heard her inhale, but was startled when the sudden weight of her head fell upon his shoulder and soft, dainty hands covered his own. This closeness was so bold and unnecessary, yet he made no attempt to verbalize his discomfort because it was also so different and…wonderful. Human contact was not something he was accustomed to, and while he did not ever make the mistake of craving it, having it at the very moment nearly inspired a longing for it. He lowered his eyes behind his goggles, unsure of the situation presenting itself before him but wanting to speak within the time she was allowing him. "Hinata…," He felt her nod her head slightly as if signaling to him that she was listening, "Sasuke will not forgo his path for love. Why? Because vengeance is his life line, his sole reason for existence, and without it he would parish. There is no room in his being." "Shino-kun, I do not love Sasuke-san." He snorted in relief, but did not ease his posture. He also made note that she did not seem to question his knowledge of Sasuke's return. "Then who do you love? Naruto and Kiba are both here in Konoha, so if it is either of them, then you'd no reason to leave."

He felt her shake her head and sigh miserably. "Then it was Neji. Why? Because his death brought about your changes; brought about the slow deconstruction of the Hinata from Konoha that allowed this hidden Hinata to finally emerge into the open. Neji's sacrifice was the catalyst, but defecting will only tarnish your name –not heal your heart. " He felt her shy away from him then and did not allow the sudden absence of her closeness to infect his own heart, but he could not fool his body from feeling the cold that her warmth had prevented. She was so silent that he turned his head to make sure she was still there, catching the glimmer of tears threatening to spill and the paleness of her face. "I..I loved Neji-niisan, loved him since the first time we were properly introduced as children, but never in such a way that.." She choked on a sob, throwing her hands to her lips to keep it in, hunching her shoulders as if to keep the grief away. Finally, she composed herself, returning to her stiff posture. "I was unaware of how he felt until he passed from this world, and I felt so ashamed that this whole time…this whole time I was so blind to it, immune to it. Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun…"

She paused, her thoughts running away from her temporarily. "Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun..the weight of love is so tremendous, it is such a heavy burden to be loved and I…I…I d-d-don't..I-I j-ju-j-" He would never be able to recall if she had simply collapsed into his arms, or if he –against his will, had merely enveloped her, but somehow she was in his arms and he would never forget the feeling of utter completion. "I have loved, loved for so long. Loved those that love had forsaken like Naruto-kun, loved those that needed a quieter, softer love to root them like Kiba-kun, loved those tarnished and tainted by the darkness of love like Neji-kun, loved those that wanted love but could never grasp it like…Shino-kun." He inhaled sharply, afraid exhaling would shatter the preciousness of her revelation, of her vulnerability as pure and beautiful as it was. Her fingers had crept around him and held onto him as if he were the only thing tying her down to the Earth. Her face tilted smoothly in the awkward cloth covering the crook of his neck, and he was suddenly so afraid that she would kiss him. That she would break down the barriers he had so carefully constructed throughout childhood and prove them not to be impenetrable after all. The kikaichū began to hum loudly, pulsating beneath his skin and moving rapidly as if preparing for war.

He was on edge like never before, his instincts flaring and his body automatically transitioning into fight or flight. His mind was racing, calculating, and he could not fight the confusion that clouded his usually collected rationale. What was this feeling?

"H-Hinata..-"

"-It was gradual, and I kept quiet because I knew that things would only make matters worse for you-"

"H-Hi..-inata-"

"-I had p-promised myself that I would never tell you, that I would take it to my grave-"

"Please…please-..!"

"Bu-but I..I love you Shino-kun, and I am so s-sorry for the burden that I am placing upon you, so sorry that I-I-"

"No..no-"

As the words died in his throat he realized that his vision was unobstructed by his goggles, that murky brown was visible to the naked eye, as well as the black kikaichū that were overwhelming the white of his sclera. Staring down at the former Hyūga heiress he realized that his body was in such an immense pain that the throbbing that pierced his heart had begun to infect his entire being and dull his senses. He had not recalled removing his goggles, had lost all sense of time as the moon had went from a lonely presence to complimented by dozens of stars. And when she kissed him he would later realize two things; that he had experienced the first and last heartbreak of his life, and that her expressing her love for him would be a mantra that haunted him until his soul moved on from the shinobi world. For that moment in time, however, he had never known that such a feeling of pure peace existed.


	11. 1o

Still alive guys, and the with a drumroll I announce that there is one chapter left! Thank you all for your patience and your reviews, you don't know how wonderful they make me feel. ;)

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><p>"I have not implicated that I have any interest in your company."<p>

He watched her gather her strands and meticulously tie them into a long braid, slightly annoyed by her refusal to respond to any of his bait. For half an hour he had been trying to ebb away at the coolness of her demeanor, and each attempt proved to be as fruitless as the last. When he had decided to cross the gates into Konoha earlier in the day he had found the guards of the first watch cleverly incapacitated, only noticeable to those with a higher than average aptitude for details. Thank Kami the Nara and Aburame Shino were nowhere in range during this young hour of the morning. Still, she had been standing off to the side passively as if she were unaware that she had just committed a crime against Konohagakure, fiddling with the strap of a small backpack. He was immediately suspicious, hand fingering his chokutō as his eyes narrowed and scanned his surroundings. He felt foolish standing in the open, especially because he knew that he would have been alerted of danger far before he had reached the vicinity if any were to be had, yet still the scene before him seemed so outlandish that he felt it had to be part of some conspiracy.

After a few minutes of silence, the former Hyūga heiress had finally found a satisfactory adjustment to her strap, spared a quick glance at the suspicious Uchiha, and then quietly walked passed him and into the forest that he had just departed from. Needlessly to say he had snorted and followed suit, annoyance and curiosity getting the absolute best of him, and here he was. Hinata had not spoken one word to him since he had caught her trail, and he had taken upon himself to question her antics and take snarky jabs at her whenever he wanted to escape the quickening of the blood circulating through his veins. She would never acknowledge him, never lose her pace or focus as she leapt from branch to branch at a near neck breaking speed. He was unconcerned as he could easily keep up, but he was troubled by her dismissal of his presence as well as his interest in her dismissal of his presence. He had become increasingly aware of her since his spontaneous visitation to her home to pay his respects for the lost Hyūga Neji, became invested in figuring out her inner sanctums and dissecting every layer that she suddenly seemed to have bloomed. He did not know of this creature he was tailing, was not certain of what made her tick and what true power was to be had coursing through her chakra lines, and that was what seem to make her all the more appealing. Curiosity was not his strong suit, but he could be baited easily by particular things like power, vengeance, and his lineage. Hyūga Hinata perhaps had power from a source that he could not quite fathom as of yet, but there was something else that was lingering just below the surface and as intelligent as he was –he could still not grasp even the thinnest wisps of it.

Blinking back his thoughts, he found himself standing a few feet away from her crouching form in a small clearing far away from the home they once knew. They were a distance away to keep any Jōnin that would be sent out to collect the missing Hyūga from immediate retrieval, but still –to him at least- too close to be taking such a leisurely break. The scent was still far too fresh, and while he was not quite sure what sort of jutsu Hinata had used on the guards, he didn't trust it to keep for as long as she apparently thought it would. "Now is not the time to take a break hime, missing nin do not have the luxury of sloth and procrastination." Still nothing. He was finding that his initial annoyance was slowly becoming a smoldering distaste. They remained in their positions for what seemed like an eternity to the obsidian eyed youth but was only perhaps at the most twenty minutes. Him watching her and she simply with her back turned to him doing Kami knows what. He had never recalled being so impatient in his life, but with a few long strides and an aura full of venom, he would make sure that this one moment would be the last. He dropped into a silent crouch and reached for her, barely avoiding what would have been a sound punch to the jaw. Immediately enraged he knocked her over and began to struggle as she wildly began to strike at him with the entirety of her body.

Sharingan met Byakugan, both pulled into slits and glares meant to insure a slow, vicious death as the two owners seemingly fought for dominance. Theirs was not a true shinobi fight, as no blood was meant to be drawn nor were true bruises meant to be ebbed into the flesh, but theirs was still a fight no less. With forty five minutes lost, the two had scuffled in the clearing with a childish senselessness that an outsider would have been ashamed to witness; clothes dirtied, hair skewed, faces burning with shame yet flushed with the need for absolute victory. Yet still there was no victor, and as Hinata slapped away Sasuke's hands from her shoulders for what seemed like hundredth time and Sasuke endured a counter in the form of a pinch sent from Hell to his side for the thousandth time, the two finally succumbed to the ludicrous of it all and turned away from one another. They stood in a tense silence, each fuming and trying to calm themselves while refusing to express their frustrations first –though finally Sasuke gave in. "This is not some fairy tale hime, trying to run away with me is the stupidest thing you've done since letting dobe and that mutt kiss you!" She whirled on him, taking a step forward and jabbing her finger deep into his chest. "I h-have had it! I am not i-i-interested in the slightest in your chauvinistic ar-r-rogance!" She wheezed slightly and immediately returned to her tirade, "I did not run a-away with you, you followed me out here like some sort of lost pup and you've been stalking me for who knows how long you…you..!" She balled her free hand and attempted a sloppy punch that he too easily caught, and she grunted deeply as the crooked grin that splashed across his face for having gotten the best of her.

"I do not want a girlfriend Hyūga-"

"-And I do not want an Uchiha Sasuke! So get lost already!"

He blinked, taken aback by the seriousness in her tone of voice. "You are not my world, nor will my world ever revolve around you or honestly include you with the serious disregard you have for others." She snatched her fist back and stepped to the side so that he could see her work. "I stopped here to bury all the beautiful things that tied me to Konoha because in an hour's time, the Hyūga Compound will find Hyūga Hinata to be no more, and I cannot allow myself to ever regress from here on out." She then leapt quietly to a tree and turned to look down at him, "So as of now, I have not implicated that I have any interest in your company Uchiha."

She then disappeared within the blink of an eye, leaving Sasuke to study the intricate handiwork of the small grave she had constructed. With a moment of deliberation, he too disappeared into the treetops.


	12. Epilogue

_Faith, it drives me away_  
><em>But it turns me on<em>  
><em>Like a strangers love<em>

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><p>As she watched the Uchiha meditate beneath the Falls of Truth, the dark haired beauty reflected on the year that had slipped through her fingers since her defection from Konoha. Today marked the anniversary of Neji's sacrifice and she could not express into words the feelings that bubbled inside of her. She could feel the shame of living coursing through her veins, the disappointment of betraying Neji clutching at her heart, and the guilt of his unreciprocated love aching through her bones. She sighed, running her fingers through her newly chopped locks, and felt the insatiable desire to shorten its length even more when the tresses brushed against her shoulders. It had been a spur of the moment decision when they had first decided to rest their nomadic ways temporarily some months ago and make the Island Turtle in the Land of Lightening their home, finding that the isolation and hazardous environment would mean that they would be free of both shinobi and the trials and tribulations of being homeless and on the run. Of course, that was not taking into consideration that Killer B had his own vacation home here and that he would pose a problem if he ever happened to appear and come across their chakra levels, but that was a discussion for another day. A discussion that Hinata was certain would never happen in a million years even if the situation did present itself.<p>

Uchiha Sasuke was sometimes the most insufferable of company when he wanted to be; antagonistic whenever he wanted to get a rise out of her, a show-off whenever trouble crossed their paths so that he could later gloat, and childish whenever dusk slipped in because he was no match for Hinata's insomnia. And that was simply to name a few. Rolling her pearl laced eyes, she was unsurprised when she noticed that the very teenager in question went from an unmovable trance at the twenty yards below her to soaking wet beside her. She held her breath, waiting for some snarky remark about her break from training or some slick jab at her watching him half naked beneath the cascading water. She waited for a few minutes and hesitantly exhaled after noticing that he seemed far too content to be concerned with annoying her. She closed her eyes in relief and turned to look out at the large, green expanse of spikes that littered the area before her, relaxing her posture as she listened to the sounds of nothing more than the quiet hum of the land's various species mulling somewhere about. This place had its many dangers, but it too had a quality of life that she found somehow irresistible. It allowed her to reflect on her life, on herself, on what she wanted out of life. She often thought of all she left behind, but today she thought solely of Neji and of all that they had accomplished and left untouched. Her heart ached immensely as memories poured through her mind, and those memories were so vivid that she felt as if she was reliving every single one of them. The sights, the smells, the tastes –all of her senses became activated with each memory that slipped from her mind into reality, and yet she knew that in the end they were but mere fragments to a history she had buried and left time ago.

"Tch. You're still way too soft Hime." As terrible as he was, Sasuke was the one that always grounded her, making her reclaim all of the progress that she had made. She frowned and turned her head away from him so that he could no longer read her expressions like an open book. Today was a day where she felt no need to hide behind the aloofness that he so easily equipped himself with on the normal day to day basis, and she made a note that that was perhaps one of the few ugly habits she had picked up from the Uchiha. "And you're still way too nosy Teme." Rudeness was also one of those ugly habits, but she could feel his smug satisfaction burning into the back of her head. She once again sighed, completely drained and unable to keep up the usual banter that passed between them. "Sasuke-" "Today is special," His interruption was soft and unexpected, making her turn to look at his profile with suspicion, "and I'm not going to give you the third degree about all your moping and procrastination considering the remaining 364 days of the year you've been almost as fanatical and obsessed as me when…" He shook his head, drawing his mouth into a frown as deep creases began to reveal themselves in his forehead. "Neji is worth the contemplation and acknowledgement, but the guilt and shame are things of pure selfishness and needn't muddle any thoughts or memories that may be drudged up. He chose to live his life according to his nindō, and questioning that is the most disrespectful thing you can do." His dark eyes spared her a thoughtful glance before returning to their sight into the distance, "It's a waste for your reflections to be clouded by bias as they cannot completely become full circle or transparent. The past is the only thing that is completely set, so use the time that you have to instead shape what you'd like in your immediate future."

She looked at him in complete disbelief, unsure how to go about his statements and the subliminal revelations that he had made. "I cannot contest what you were like growing up Sasuke," She closed her eyes, tilting her head and allowing herself to fully enjoy the feel of the rays of the morning light penetrating her flesh. "As we weren't even real acquaintances, but I thank you for trusting me to travel this journey of self-discovery with you, for being as vulnerable as me despite our differences, and for just being here." She heard him grunt in discomfort and couldn't help but allow a small pearl of laughter to escape her lips. "Although you can be creepy, narcissistic, petty, arrogant, incorrigible-"

"Okay, Hyūga."

She smiled brightly and tilted her head towards him, studying the tip of his tense posture to the ridiculous furrowing of his eyebrows. "You seemed so unhappy with compliments, oh mighty Uchiha, so I was merely adapting to better suit you." He gave her a sharp glare for a moment and then went back to brooding. "Oh I'm sorry, but really Sasuke…"She turned completely towards him, seriousness overwhelming her features, "Why did you return to Konoha without bringing about Armageddon, and why were you so insistent on stalking me?" She watched him slowly relax his form, although his face did not lighten as he thought. These were questions that had no simple answers, and the answers that he could provide perhaps would not be found suitable enough. He was certain that Hinata could almost see the very gears of his brain clicking together, and fought down the slight annoyance that came with knowing just how intimate that miniscule detail was. He exhaled loudly and frowned, turning to meet her expectant gaze with those penetrating eyes. "The truth is…" Unconsciously, she leaned in just a bit closer, nowhere near close enough to break his personal space bubble, "that I could hear that hidden desire that you have burning for me and decided it best to harvest your chakra and hold you as leverage should I ever run into the improbability of needing an escape."

She stared at him, blinking once, twice. She then clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth and closed her eyes to return to basking in the sun's rays. "You would not be able to have me even in your Sharingan induced hallucinations, Uchiha." She heard a nearly inaudible chuckle and felt a feathery strum of large fingers on her knuckles. When she opened her eyes to catch him, Uchiha Sasuke had disappeared from her side and once more was mediating beneath the cold waters of the waterfall.

She was no longer heiress Hyūga Hinata of Konohagakure, and somehow he was now no longer the avenging Uchiha Sasuke- sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. She wasn't sure of what they were now, or when the changes had truly begun, but as she looked down upon his still frame and saw a thin, tiny smirk on his lips –she knew that at least they were glorious.

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><p><em>It rockets through the universe<em>  
><em>It fuels the lies, it feeds the curse<em>  
><em>We, too, could be glorious<em>

And that is all everyone, I really appreciate you all for riding along with me and leaving comments and just reading period! You guys will never understand just how much those things mean to me. Hopefully I've satisfied everyone with this one, and if not maybe I'll be able to with another story in the future. Especially ones that may be longer, this was my 'if I can do a short one then maybe' piece. ;) See you guys on the flipside.


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